


In the Name of Sanity

by charlesss



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Lance (Voltron), BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Tony Stark, Crossover, I don't like Voltron anymore, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this, Lance (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker-centric, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Thanos needs my fist in his face, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric, Unfortunately he doesn't get it, but if I do I'm going to orphan it immediately, instead I just killed him, so we'll see how it goes, take that u fugly lil ballsack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-05-06 06:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14635935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlesss/pseuds/charlesss
Summary: Nothing makes sense anymore. Tony missed the world that made sense, the one where Peter was alive and Thanos was just another weird name he'd never heard before. He missed the world where other realities only existed in science fiction, the world where everyone was alive.Or:Lance finds his way into the Marvel Universe and is tasked with returning all the heroes and citizens that somehow ended up in his universe, but an odd mental connection with one Peter Parker seems to complicate things.





	1. Who The Hell Are You?

**Author's Note:**

> So it begins! This fic will be my priority, but when I finish it, I'll go back to my others. Probably.

For a moment, everything was going fine. He was smiling, laughing at Keith's dumb joke, and he could see Shiro out of the corner of his eye chuckling too, and then...  
  
Then it appeared that he was falling, and boy, did that wipe the smile off his face. He wasn't sure, but he thought for a second that he was screaming, which made sense - again, he was falling, out of nowhere, when he should've been laughing with his team about some dumb thing Keith said.  
  
It didn't really hurt when he landed. By that point, he was so deep into his thoughts about the whole situation that he only realized that he'd hit the ground because the wind was no longer whistling in his ears.  
  
His eyes fluttered open and he was greeted by the angry, distraught face of a man who looked human. Well, that was new... The man stared at him for a second before opening his mouth, whispering, "Who the hell are you?"  
  
Lance passed out before he could answer, but if he were able to get the words out, he would have asked the man the same question.  
  
°•°  
  
Tony stared as the kid fell from the sky, and he stared as the kid lay unmoving, sprawled on the ground in an awkward and unnatural position. He shared a confused glance with Nebula before rushing over to the kid, who reminded him strikingly of Peter for some reason - dear God, he couldn't bear to think of Peter at the moment - and checking his pulse. It was there, but faint. He was surprised that the kid was alive, but then again, he'd taken worse hits and had hardly come out worse for the wear.  
  
Then the kid opened his eyes, which were glassy and confused, but still they locked with Tony's. As they stared at each other, Tony felt a sense of familiarity creep up his spine, and he choked on his words. "Who the hell are you?" he whispered, hoping there would be an answer that somehow solved everything, but nothing could solve the mess Thanos had made, not now.  
  
The kid's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went limp under Tony's gaze. Tony gulped and looked up at Nebula for assistance, but she looked more confused than Tony felt, which was saying something.  
  
Luckily, it only took a few seconds for the kid's eyes to open. "L-Lance," he gasped. "My name..." he squeezed his eyes shut and gasped in apparent pain. He struggled for breath for a moment before shooting up at almost inhuman speeds, and Tony found himself looking up at the kid instead of down.

He was lanky, but looked quite strong (especially in the weird armor he wore). Tony wondered for a moment if the kid was okay, but then he decided that he couldn't possibly be, because out of nowhere, Nebula shot him.

"What the fuck?" the kid - Lance - managed, gasping as he held a hand over his wound. Nebula ran towards him and grabbed him by the neck, pulling a knife from God knows where.

"Where were you ten minutes ago?" she yelled, and Lance blinked at her. Was he supposed to know her? 

"Do you know this guy?" Tony asked, eying Lance's wound nervously. 

"Do you see the symbol, here, on his armor?" she responded, not even looking at Tony. He nodded, staring at the v-shaped symbol plastered on Lance's chest. "Do you know what it means?"

"It means I'm a paladin of Voltron, but it doesn't mean that I have any goddamn clue who you are," Lance hissed, leaning away from the knife at his neck. 

"Nebula, leave him alone," Tony said, deciding that this wouldn't escalate any further. "He clearly doesn't know what's going on anymore than we do."

"But he's here!" she said, as if that explained everything. "He's here, meaning he knows we needed help, and he's late. The fate of the universe, and he has the _audacity_ to be late."

"Better late than never, huh?" Lance gasped as the knife was pushed closer to his skin.

"Just stop!" Tony shouted. "We've lost enough today. If he could've stopped this, or helped us, he's on our side, late or not. We shouldn't lose him too."

Nebula stared at Lance, breathing heavily as she pressed the knife further towards him. Then she dropped it, crossed her arms and walked away. Tony watched as she dropped to the ground and covered her eyes, tried to calm her shaking shoulders and running nose. 

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to guess that it's really, really bad," Lance said, and his voice was surprisingly soft in this moment. Tony wondered how he kept his composure so well after falling from the sky, being shot and almost stabbed. He would definitely be taking notes.

"You have no idea," Nebula replied shakily. She curled tighter in on herself, her chest leaning down into her knees. Tony felt the same grief that filled her wash over him, and for a moment he wanted to join her on the ground and let all of his sorrow pour out. But this paladin guy, Lance, was here, on Titan. And that clearly meant something. So instead of bawling his eyes out over his failure and all the loss of life it meant, he walked over to the kid and offered a hand to shake.

"I'm Tony. It's nice to meet you."

°•°

If anyone asked, Peter would say that he was having a bad day. It started with the whole Thanos situation, how one of his ships brought him to another planet where his life was briefly threatened by a "star-god" or something like that. Then he fought Thanos, lost the fight, and then.... 

He couldn't quite remember. He remembered the stabbing pain in his stomach, and then the worried face of Mr. Stark, and he could feel everything fading, he was fading, his sight was fading, the sounds were fading... He remembered hugging Mr. Stark, and telling him he didn't want to go, and then he was gone.

Just like that, he was surrounded by brightness and laughter, and he gasped, stumbling forward. All he could really tell was that he was no longer in Mr. Stark's arms, that the world was no longer fading but had come back and punched him in the gut.

"Who the fuck-" he blinked as a voice rang in his ears, and the laughter stopped as abruptly as it started. "Where's Lance?"

A hand was on his shoulder, but not in a comforting manor. It was rough and angry and he was sure he would be wincing in pain if not for the Iron Spider armor.

"Where..." Peter grasped at the words as coughs wracked his body. The grip on his shoulder loosened only slightly, allowing him to sway on his feet a little. "Where am I?"

His question was met by silence, but his eyes were adjusted to the light, so he looked around to answer it himself. He saw a face in front of him, an angry kid not much older than him with shoulder length black hair and purple eyes that just screamed anger issues. He turned his head and saw three people in matching black, yellow and green armor. They stared at him skeptically, two of them with weapons drawn.

"Who are you?" the kid in front of him said. There was no room for questions in his voice, just commands. Peter could feel the rage radiating off of him, and though his spidey sense shrieked danger, he answered anyway.

"Peter," he said. "Peter Parker. I was on Titan, with Tony, how can I be here?" he hoped, no, _prayed_ , that one of these guys would have the answers.

"I don't know."


	2. What The Hell is a Voltron?

_Oh god._

_Who the hell are these people?_

_How did I even get here?_

_Am I dead?_

_Where's Mr. Stark?_

_Are they going to kill me?_

Lance hears thoughts that he knows aren't his own echoing in his head. They pass through his mind, and the first few he mistakes for his own, but there is no way in Zarkon the rest are his.

_If there's any God out there, please let me go home._

Lance snorted softly - yeah, he felt that one. It was hardly the first time he'd been stranded somewhere with no hope of rescue and no clue where he was, but it was definitely the first time he'd heard someone else's thoughts in his head. He just hoped whoever's thoughts they were wouldn't be too mad that he was hearing them.

 _Fuck, his_ arm  _lights up?!_

Lance cocked an eyebrow at that one. Tony, the man who'd been standing over him when he woke up, cast him a strange look, but said nothing. Lance was glad for this, because if he had to explain that he was hearing voices in his head, he would never be trusted by these guys.

Thing was, he only knew one guy whose arm lit up, and frankly-

_What the hell is up with that lady's ears?_

No way. Coincidence. Definitely a coincidence.

"Are you okay, kid?" Tony called, looking down at him with more concern evident on his features than the blue woman appeared to have in her whole body.

"I'm..." Lance hesitated, waiting for another thought to come. Maybe it would confirm his suspicions and make this easier to explain, or maybe it wouldn't and he would just say that he was fine.

_What the hell is a 'Voltron'?_

Fine. Fine!  _Fuck you too, Universe,_ Lance thought, standing up. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the nebulous darkness which surrounded him, and he projected a thought, hoping it would reach whoever was with his team.

°•°

Peter could not believe his luck. Well, his bad luck. Currently, he was facing off with four teenage assassins, all because of his dumb instincts. He'd tried to apologise a second after he kicked the smallest one into the wall, but she was on him in an instant, the others not far behind (except for the lady with the pointy ears and the one in yellow, who had run off to get some "clams". He wasn't sure where the pointy ears lady had gone, but he wasn't exactly itching to find out.)

He was barely managing to hold his own against them, and they were starting to take advantage of his fighting style by catching him in the air, mid-flip, or by dodging his webs, or grabbing the spider arms to _fling him across the goddamn room._

Things only got worse when someone screamed in his ear, but it wasn't even one of them. It was an unfamiliar voice, one louder than he'd ever heard in his life.

**_IS THERE ANYONE THERE?_ **

What kind of a dumbass thing to scream in someone's ear was that? Peter doubled over in shock, but not one of his opponents seemed to hear anything. 

 _What the ever-loving fuck was that?!_ Peter thought, stumbling backwards. 

**_YOU CAN HEAR ME?_ **

_Yes, now please stop SCREAMING in my ear,_ Peter shot back, focusing on not getting sliced in half by the mullet kid. 

_**Sorry! Is this better?** _

Peter nodded, earning a concerned glance from the glowing arm guy - which was weird because he was trying to _kill him_ , why would he be concerned when he was trying to _kill_ him?!

_Yes, fine! Just, shut up for a minute!_

Peter hummed in concentration, wincing as he took a shock from the green kid and then a burn on the arm from the arm guy. 

**_I need to tell you something - you're with Voltron, right?_ **

Peter did his best not to respond, instead jumping towards to ceiling to avoid a swing from the mullet kid.. He wasn't sliced open, but instead shocked again as the green girl's spade/whip intercepted him in the air. He fell to the floor with a groan, debating whether or not he should even get up - they clearly had him beat.

**_Tell them Lance is talking to you._ **

Sure. Why the hell not, right? Why not trust the random voice in your head right after being killed and teleported to some crazy space castle?

"L-Lance needs to tell you something!" Peter yelped. The green girl, who had been running towards him, stopped and stared at him with crinkled eyebrows.

"Guys, stop fighting!" the yellow guy was back again, chest heaving as if he had been running the whole time he had been gone. A tall white man with orange hair, a prominent mustache and pointy ears - similar to the magical disappearing lady - walked in, and Peter's assailants stopped to look towards him.

"What's going on here?" he asked with a raised brow. "Where's Lance and Allura?"

"In my head! Uh, sir!" Peter answered pushing himself into a sitting position. "I mean, one of them is, the Lance guy. I don't think he's really in my head, but he's-"

"Shut up and keep talking," the guy in red hissed. Peter could see the two in green and yellow sharing an amused look, but it was gone from their faces as soon as it had appeared. 

"Um, Lance, I can hear him. Like, a voice? He said that I need to tell you - like, Voltron, that we're talking to eachother," he cursed the shakiness of his voice, wishing he could sound confident and sure in front of these space assassin guys, but he was all too aware of the tremors in his voice, the slight warble in his speech.

"How is that possible?" the arm guy asked, but it was clear he was addressing the mustache guy and not Peter. Mustache man only shrugged.

"I'm going to guess it has something to do with the unnatural readings I'm getting - trillions of life forms just appeared across the universe, one of them being your _Charkial_ themed friend here."

" _Charkials_ are Altean spiders, right?" mullet kid whispered towards the green girl. She nodded.

"Thanos put them here?" Peter gasped, despite himself. Immediately, every eye in the room was on him. 

"Who's 'Thanos'?" mustache man asked, walking toward him. Peter scooched back instinctively, and the man slowed down. "Sorry, we're being incredibly rude, aren't we?" he shot a look at everyone in the room. "My name is Coran."

"I'm Hunk," the yellow guy said, waving at Peter.

"Shiro," the arm guy sent a friendly smile his way. "Sorry for attacking you."

"Call me Pidge," the green girl sighed, crossing her arms. 

"Ke- red paladin?" Coran prompted, raising an eyebrow at the mullet guy.

"Keith," he hissed, glaring at Peter.

"I'm, uh, Peter," he said. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

"No shit."

°•°

"What do you mean, you can hear his thoughts?" Tony's voice was calm, but his eyes were filled with a rage Lance had only seen on Galra. To see one of his own kind muster that same kind of anger stirred up a fear that Lance didn't know he was capable of experiencing. 

"I mean, I can hear his thoughts, or some of them. He said his name is Peter - ringing any bells?" Tony's face went slack for a moment, the fury in his eyes replaced with despair.

"He's alive?" he asked meekly, and Lance hesitated before nodded.

"I would assume so," he replied carefully. Tony fell to his knees and began to sob, with joy or sadness, Lance couldn't say. For a moment, Lance had hope. Whatever this was, whatever had happened, they would fix it.

They had to.


	3. It's My Fault

"So, how deep does this link run?" Tony asked after he regained his composure. Lance could only shrug in response, as this had never happened to him before. "There's a first time for everything" had become one of the only things that still worked in space, seeing as nothing ever made sense.  
  
"I could test it out, I guess," Lance suggested after a moment. "See if I could see through his eyes or anything."  
  
"Could you?" Tony asked, the missing "please" not going unnoticed by the paladin beside him.  
  
"Sure. Give me a moment," he said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He relaxed, letting his tense muscles go lax as he reached into the corner of his mind where Peter's voice had first rang from.  
  
He thought of his friends, of this kid that Tony cared so much about, and of the universe he had left behind minutes ago. Peter was there. Peter was there, his life somehow intertwined with Lance's.  
  
Lance focused until he saw nothing. And then suddenly, he saw home.  
  
°•°  
  
Peter gasped as his eyes opened again, taking deep breaths of air into his lungs. He couldn't understand why he was so out of breath, but it didn't take long to get over it. He blinked a few times, shaking his head to stop the ringing in his ears.  
  
"-id? Are you okay?" Peter blinked again. He knew that voice, knew that worried tone as much as he knew the hands that were steadying him, keeping him from falling over.  
  
"What-" he closed his mouth as quickly as he had opened it, he suddenly felt sick. He looked around, beginning to take in his surroundings. This was not the futuristic room he had been in a minute ago, this was...  
  
This was impossible.  
  
"How did I get here?" he squeeked, eyes wide with confusion. "What's wrong with my voice?"  
  
"Are you okay?" the voice asked again, and Peter looked at the man, looked at Tony, and gasped in shock.

"You- but we were- I wasn't here! I was dying, and then I didn't, I wasn't, and I-" he paused, staring right at Tony's confused face. "I'm sorry," he gasped, a wave of despair washing over him in the moment. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... We didn't defeat him and it's my fault, I didn't get the glove off in time, I couldn't stop him from hurting you-”

"Peter?" Tony's voice was smaller than Peter had ever heard it before. He nodded, and Tony stood still for a minute, holding his breath before wrapping him in a monster hug. “He did it,” he muttered, and Peter could tell that this wasn't meant for him. “Oh my God, he did it.”

“I'm sorry,” Peter repeated, his tears falling onto Tony's shoulder with abandon. He shook in his mentor's embrace, the confusion and terror of the last day catching up with him in the calm of the moment.

“Don't be sorry,” Tony said, the words sounding cliche even to his own ears. “You did all that you could. We can still fix this, because you're alive, you're out there, and that's all I need. I'll get you back.”

“What do you mean, I'm out there?” Peter asked, pulling away from the embrace. “I'm right here! I was somewhere else for a minute, but I'm back now, I…! I…” Peter trailed off, looking down at his hands. He quickly recognized the armored gloves he wore, and broke out into another sob. “It's not me,” he whispered through his tears. “I'm not even here.”

“No,” Tony said, “but you will be. I promise.”

He wrapped him in another hug, holding him until his form jolted and those blue eyes that suddenly met his no longer belonged to Peter.

°•°

“What’s happening to him?!” one voice yelled, and Lance cringed at the sudden volume. Still, he pried his eyes open, blinking at the light.

“He's awake again,” someone said, and it only took a second before the voice registered as Hunk, and _oh my god it's Hunk, it's Hunk, I'm back I'm home I'm home I'm back-_

“Hunk,” he gasped, jumping to his feet and turning to his best friend. He frowned at the sound of his voice, it was definitely not the one he was used to using.

“Uh, yeah?” the yellow paladin asked, looking very concerned if not a little confused.

“It's me,” he said, ignoring the extremely concerned glance that Pidge and Keith shared. “Lance, I mean.”

“Prove it,” Keith growled before Hunk - or anyone else - could say something.

“Uh…” Lance bit his lip, trying to think of the right thing to say. “Oh! Well, I actually do remember the bonding moment, y'know, from that night with Sendak and everything? I just lied about it because I was, well, a little bit embarrassed,” he muttered the last part, though he was sure Keith still heard it.

“Sounds like Lance to me,” Pidge snorted, shooting Hunk an amused grin. Hunk ignored it, instead choosing to walk closer to his friend.

“What's going on?” he asked, more serious than Lance had seen him in days. “Why are there all these people here, in the universe, and why did you disappear?”

“I don't know, but we're getting to the bottom of it. In the meantime, you need to trust Peter and anyone else he says to. I don't know what exactly is going on with us, and with these realities, but we need his help to fix it,” Lance explained, placing a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “I'm going to need your help, too. Whatever this is, we’re going to fix it.”

Lance embraced his friend in a hug, and before long, he felt himself in a different pair of arms with tears in his eyes, and he knew it was time to get to work.


	4. We Can Do Anything

“This is probably the worst idea they've ever had,” Rolo grumbled, his voice deeper than he'd ever had before. “I can't believe we haven't gotten caught yet.”

“It would have to be the perfect storm of errors for us to be detected,” Nyma hissed back, her voice clear and sharp. She huffed as she walked, speed walking past Rolo before continuing. “These covers are airtight.”

“That's what I'm saying!” Rolo exclaimed, raising his blaster for emphasis. “I can't breathe under this thing, y'know?”

“Not what I meant,” Nyma rolled her eyes, turning down a short hallway. She placed her hand on the keypad, relaxing slightly as the system recognized her “Galra DNA" and let her into the control room.

“Can I take this off now?” Rolo asked as the door slid shut behind the two of them, leaving them alone in the room.

“If you want to get caught, then sure. Fine by me,” Nyma replied, pulling up deployment files on the control console. “You have the chip, right?” Rolo nodded and handed her a small piece of black and purple metal. She pressed a button on its surface and a thin piece of silver metal slid out. She plugged it into the console and selected the 'download’ option, waiting for a moment until all the files (and their remote access codes) had been downloaded.

“We done here?” Rolo asked, his question coming out as a near growl with the voice adjuster.

“Basically, yes,” Nyma said, pulling the chip from the console and handing it back to Rolo. “We just need to collect the data on Commander Raizi before we leave.”

“I know that, I just meant in this room,” Rolo huffed. “I really hate Galra ships,” he added. “They're just the worst.”

“You're not alone there,” Nyma chuckled, opening the door. She let out a quick sigh of relief at the emptiness of the hallway. “Let's get these sent to Kolivan, then we can finish up and leave.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rolo said.

°•°

“Excellent work,” Kolivan praised. “This should tell us a lot about what's been going on today. I appreciate the help on such short notice.”

“We were already undercover, it was the least we could do,” Rolo responded, arms crossed indifferently. “Once we get the data on Raizi, we’ll head back to the base and help analyze all of this.”

“Actually, I had a different idea,” Kolivan began. “Raizi may be a dead cause, so put that on hold for now. We want you two to stay undercover until our operatives are back from the Castle of Lions. We need people on that ship, and it would be especially helpful if we had it under our control.”

“You can't possibly mean…” Rolo trailed off, glancing at Nyma for a minute.

“Someone is bound to discover the commander sooner or later, Kolivan. It's not safe for me to keep masquerading as her when I don't even know what her mission objective is,” Nyma explained.

“Just follow the fleet and stay in her quarters as much as possible until we have these files figured out. You'll be the first to know what's going on, I promise,” Kolivan sighed. “You're the only undercovers we've got right now. We need you.”

“Your promise better mean something this time,” Rolo growled, his eyes subconsciously going to his metal leg. Kolivan let out a shaky breath, a sign of weakness he usually wouldn't show in front of anyone.

“It will. It does,” he closed his eyes for a moment, apparently regaining his composure. When he began to speak again, his voice was hard and uncaring once more. “Good luck, you two. Don't blow your covers.”

“Thanks,” Nyma said quickly, powering off the communication device and effectively hanging up on the call. “We'll keep it in mind,” she said, sending Rolo a wink. He gave her an unconvincing smile before sitting down and focusing his eyes on the floor.

“Do you think we can manage this?” he asked, fingers brushing over his prosthetic leg, mind locked in a memory he wished he could let go of.

“Of course we can,” Nyma said softly, placing her hand over his his own. He looked up, meeting her eyes for a moment before looking down again. “We can do anything, remember?”

_“We can do this,” Nyma said, flashing him a weary smile. “We can do anything, as long as we do it together.”_

“Yeah, I guess so,” Rolo sighed, letting a small smile slip onto his face. “Just… be careful, this time, okay?”

“This is a completely different situation from then, Rolo. We're going to be fine, I promise.” Nyma squeezed his fingers and pulled him into a light hug. “You need to relax, okay? I know you're worried, and I know you have good reason to be, but we are going to do just fine.”

“You know, the way you say that, it sounds like we're about to go onstage and sing a little song, not impersonate a high ranking commander and her right hand man with no idea what the hell they'd say, do or think in the scenarios we’re going to encounter,” Rolo laughed. Nyma gave him a little smile before pulling away from the hug.

“See? That's the spirit,” she joked, and Rolo couldn't deny the smile on his face. “We can do this.”

“If you say so,” he replied, eliciting a big smile from Nyma.

_“If you say so,” Rolo gasped, taking her outstretched hand._

**“Commander Raizi to the bridge, please,”** the comms buzzed to life, and Nyma stood up in response.

“Guess that's my cue. Cheer me on from the audience, mkay?” Rolo snorted at her antics, watching as she activated the impersonation device and took on the image of the commander.

“Will do, Nyma. Will do.”

With that, she walked out of the room, leaving Rolo with a smile and deep, unexplainable sense of dread that he just knew would be important later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, some Nyma and Rolo!! And a double update??? ;) Things are about to get good, guys...


	5. Every Soldier On This Ship Will Try To Kill Us... If We're Lucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that every chapter I've posted has had the date set to May 13th... I have no idea why but I think it should be fixed now?

It had taken about three minutes to sum up what had happened to leave two people on a dead planet and trillions more in another reality, and that hurt. The biggest failure in Tony's life, the worst shortcoming he had ever experienced, was summed up in three minutes. There was hardly any chance that those sent away in the snap would ever be recovered, even if they were alive.

 

“So, where is Thanos now?” Lance had asked, seeming unfazed by the horrible things he'd just been told. “It sounds like he's the only one who can reverse this, and if we can convince him to-”

 

“There is no convincing Thanos of anything!” Nebula hissed, balling her fists in anger. “He would sacrifice anything and anyone to keep things the way they are.” 

 

“Well, we still need to find him, since I'm pretty sure he's not about to give that gauntlet to Goodwill now that he's killed everyone,” Lance snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. “If we want to to figure out what's going on, we need to at least get those stones.”

 

“It won't be that easy, though,” Tony chimed in. “The kid's right, we need to talk to Thanos, get him to understand that he was wrong and that he's just made this whole overpopulation thing worse for another reality,” he explained, the words seeming strange in his mouth. Talking things out? With Thanos? Yeah, fat chance. “We have to try,” he added, mostly for his own benefit.

 

“How do you propose we get back to Earth, then?” Nebula asked, giving up on the previous topic. “We are halfway across the universe right now, with no ship, no teleport, no nothing. We are stranded.”

 

“I could try to call my lion?” Lance offered, the statement sounding more like a question due to his unsureness. There was a pause then, a short stretch of silence which Lance almost interpreted as a no.

 

“You could try,” Nebula said evenly, and Lance couldn't quite tell if she was agreeing that it was a good idea or saying that it was hardly worth the attempt. “You pilot the blue lion, don't you?”

 

Lance nodded. “Yeah. I guess it's pretty obvious from the armor, huh?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Lance took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he reached out to Blue with his mind. Despite being in another reality, he could still feel her presence within him, though it was weaker than he was used to.

 

_ I need you. _

 

He felt a pull of resistance from her, but that was good, it meant she was listening.

 

_ Please. I know it'll be a hard trip, but I need your help. _

 

There was no resistance this time, but Lance could still sense her hesitancy.

 

_ Please, Blue…  _

 

He felt a pull in his gut, but it was not one of resistance. He could feel Blue's power drawing nearer, he could feel her cool confidence approaching as she journeyed through the fabric of the quintessence field to reach him.

 

When he opened his eyes, he saw her hovering above him, and couldn't help the grin from slipping onto his face.

 

He had Blue.

 

He had a way home.

 

He was gonna be okay.

 

°•°

 

“What do you mean, we're going through the rift in five minutes?!” Rolo shrieked, his voice higher than a soprano on helium.

 

“I mean that we're going through the rift in five minutes,” Nyma repeated, her arms crossed in the doorway.

 

“We can't get caught in another reality! We'll be found out, and that's a best case scenario,” Rolo whined, crossing his arms to mirror his friend.

 

“If it's any consolation, we won't be alone out there,” she replied after rolling her eyes. “We're following the blue lion’s trail. She widened the rift just enough that some of the armored ships should be able to pass through safely, with enough help from the on-board druids.”

 

“Don't you think somebody’ll notice if we suddenly join the blue lion in whatever the hell it's doing?” Rolo asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“For sure,” Nyma answered. “It's likely that every soldier on this ship will try to kill us. Druids too, if we're lucky.”

 

“If we're _ lucky _ ?” Rolo scoffed. “Oh, please tell me you don't have some crazy plan that starts with us getting killed by the most terrifying people in the universe,” he begged. Nyma snorted.

 

“I'm not that dumb, Rolo. I'm just messing with you.” She paused for effect, tapping her chin as she stared at the ceiling. “Although, now that I think about it…”

 

“I hate you,” he grumbled, trying his best to hide his smile.

 

“The feeling’s mutual,” Nyma responded, barely managing to sound serious. “I need to go back now. I'll see you soon, okay?”

 

“Okay. See you soon.”

 

°•°

 

Soon turned out to be a lot sooner than either of them actually expected.

 

“R- uh, Commander Krezark, please report to the bridge,” Nyma said over the comms, not even thirty seconds after she left their quarters.

 

Rolo took a deep breath before activating his impersonation device. He approached the door and walked into the hallway after it authorized him to do so, trying to seem confident as he traversed the ship in long strides. He hummed softly to himself, stopping any time he saw a sentry or the occasional flesh and blood soldier.

 

After the most terrifying twelve seconds of his life, Rolo made it to the bridge.

 

“Reporting for duty, ma’am,” he said gruffly, bowing stiffly in Nyma’s direction. He thought for a moment to have seen a small smile on her now Galra features, but it must have been a trick of the light, because it was immediately gone.

 

“Krezark,” she greeted, motioning for him to come stand next to her. “We have a situation,” she began, her voice quiet enough for only him to hear.

 

“Which is?”

 

“We're following the blue lion, which means the other ships that went through before us have already located Lance.”

 

“We need to get him before anyone else does,” Rolo guessed, and Nyma confirmed it with a nod.

 

“We need to go rogue, now,” she stated, eyes closing for a minute. “He's on that dead-looking planet that the others are converging on. We just need to take them out, and then we can-”

 

“Hold on,” Rolo interrupted. “I’ve got a better idea.” His eyes flicked around the room for a moment before he leaned into her ear to relay the plan.

 

“That's insane,” she remarked once he was done. “Let's get to it.”


End file.
